Cadillac tweets unrequited valentines

Cadillac wanted to make love, not war, with its luxury rivals on Valentine's Day. The results were mixed.

Over the course of the day, the brand's social media team posted a series of playful pick-up lines on Twitter aimed at its competitors — admiring BMW's headlights and Lexus' "really attractive" grille, for example, and proposing a long-distance relationship with Mercedes.

Each one was signed, "Love, Cadillac," using a bright-red heart emoji.

In some cases, the love went unrequited. Tesla remained characteristically tight-lipped in response to a Cadillac's offer to "Super Cruise into your heart," though the snarky Tesla faithful on Twitter stepped in to wreck the mood.

An EV fan club's retort: "The last time a Cadillac was sexy Aretha Franklin was driving. Since then never."

Mercedes left Caddy hanging. So did Audi, despite Cadillac's persistence.

Other brands did engage or at least acknowledge the flattery. BMW, for example, thanked Cadillac for the headlamp compliment and said its "Angel Eyes" are "out of this world."

Cadillac tried to keep the flame burning: "Let's dim our headlights and see where this thread takes us."

The response elicited dozens of likes on Twitter, but no further love from BMW.

Lexus dissed Cadillac as "a bit old for us."

The Twitter community picked up on what was going on, with some commending Caddy for coming out of its shell, and others sneering at the brand for its lame come-ons, or offering their own: "Hey @bmwusa, just remember Cadillac really hugs those curves!" wrote one.

The Valentine's lovefest was the latest example of Cadillac using Twitter to stoke high-profile conversations, and a broader effort to loosen up its marketing after years of moody, operatic commercials and stilted messaging.

During the Super Bowl, the brand had a quick exchange with rapper Big Boi after he pulled up to his halftime performance at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in a vintage Caddy.

The idea for the mini-campaign came from Cadillac's creative agency, Rokkan, according to a statement relayed to Automotive News by Cadillac's social media team. And it outperformed the brand's expectations, with engagement rates for each tweet clocking in at 25 to 50 percent above Cadillac's Twitter average.

The engagement improved over the course of the day as more Twitter users and fans of the various competing brands noticed the exchanges and joined the conversation, the team's statement said.

"One of the best results was that conversation even took shape on Reddit, climbing to No. 3 on the Cars subreddit," it said, referring to a subcommunity on the site, which tracks online chatter.

Among the luxury marques left waiting by the phone were Acura and Genesis.

Cadillac's most productive interchange was with Jaguar, which started with just one word — "Meow" — and, er, Escaladed from there, prompting one Twitter user to quip: "Get a garage!"